After School

Evelina asks Nox, and he answers, “Actually, I ....”

By then, Rissa was back after she took her wallet. Then, Rissa immediately approaches Evelina and calls her. “Eve!”

****

~ Flashback ~

After a few minutes later...

After all this time, Rissa finally finds her wallet. Then, she returns to Evelina’s place that her best friend is waiting for her. Rissa walks up to her, and she stops from her path when she sees Evelina with a man. She walks slowly unnoticed by the two of them and Rissa realizes that the man is a very well-known person to her. “Nox?”

“What is he doing with Eve? Does he want to get close to Eve??” panicked Rissa. She immediately rushed to Evelina.

~ End of flashback ~

****

Rissa pretends to see Nox at the time. At the moment, she turns toward Nox and pretends to be surprised when she sees him.

“HEY NOX!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” cried Rissa to Nox.

“Hey! Why are you yelling at me? I’m just waiting for a boy,” Nox said angrily.

“DO YOU THINK I WILL BE—” Rissa said.

On the sidelines of Rissa’s talk, there came a man who approached Nox, namely Franss Vessalius. Franss who ran he looked tired and said, “Nox so-sorry it’s been a long time waiting ... I thought you’d leave me alone.” Franss breathlessly, while talking to Nox.

“You took a long time! I’ve been waiting for hours and almost been attacked by a monster,” Nox said.

“Monster?” asked Rissa and Frans at the same time

Franss realizes that there are Rissa and Evelina here. He is unconscious because he was too tired from running earlier.

“We meet again! Evelina ... Rissa!” said Franss.

Evelina replies to a greeting from Franss, while Rissa ignores him. Evelina is understanding that Rissa is upset with Nox and she persuades her to go home soon.

“Rissa, let’s go home!” asks Evelina.

“Right, rather than I’m talking to this rancid boy!” said Rissa while staring at Nox.

Then Evelina says goodbye to the two of them. “We go first, be careful on street! Nox ... Franss!”

Evelina and Rissa have left them both and Rissa while holding Evelina’s arm. Rissa, who looks sticky on Evelina, makes Franss talk. “Look! Rissa’s behavior is so sticky to Evelina,” said Franss with his eyes coded for Nox.

Tin... tin...

At that moment, Nox heard a honking sound from his pickup and he took Franss.

“Come on, we go home!” he said. Then, they both got into Nox’s car and the car starts moving.

On the other hand, Evelina and Rissa arrive at their home. Rissa finally releases Evelina’s arm. They said goodbye to each other and stretched out their hands. At that time, Evelina fell silent, and she did not reply to Rissa’s words, saying goodbye to her. She said, “Rissa ... No—” But Evelina didn’t ask Rissa.

“No? What?” asked Rissa.

Evelina shook her head, and she said it was nothing. Evelina wanted to tell her something, but it wasn’t. Rissa is aware of that. But Rissa just smiles at Evelina. Then, they enter each other’s homes, and Evelina sighs that looks tired.

“I’m home...,” Evelina said to her mother.

Evelina’s mother replied to Evelina’s greeting and told her to take a shower because they were going to dinner soon. After finishing the bath, Evelina dries her wet hair. Evelina pulled a book out of her bag that she borrowed earlier in the school library.

BAM!!!

The thumping sound of the book she put on her desk, sounded very loud because the book was quite heavy and thick. Evelina checks the book and she realizes that she borrowed so much. She didn’t expect that the books borrowed by her were enough. So, no wonder Rissa commented on this morning.

“Let’s see what books I just borrowed ...,” murmured while sorting out the book.

“There’s a Sherlock Holmes novel, Her Last Word, A Time Return, ... and finally you’re my butterfly?”

When Evelina wants to open the book, she is suddenly called by her mother to dinner and she closes back the book “You’re My Butterfly”. Evelina comes out of her room and heads to her dining room, where Evelina’s father and mother are waiting for her to eat together. After Evelina got to the dinner table she noticed that the dinner menu was a bit fancy and said to her mother.

“Mom ... isn’t this too much?” asked Evelina.

“No, because today is your first day as a high school student. So we have to celebrate,” said Evelina’s mother.

“But ...,” said Evelina.

“That’s right, your mom’s words. After all, you went to a flagship school that only rich and smart people could attend. I think it’s amazing because the entrance exams are very difficult,” her father said.

“It’s not like you get a scholarship, so it doesn’t matter,” said her mother while looking at Evelina.

When listening to her parents’ words, Evelina cannot refuse offers from her mother and father. She accepts the offer, Evelina who feels uncomfortable with her parents. Because her family’s finances were simple, she accepted it because her mother had cooked rib soup. Then, the girl sits in her chair and eats the diner cooked by her mother.

After finishing the meal, Evelina tidying up the plates and cleans it. Her father who is reading the newspaper while sitting down, he asks his daughter about her first day of high school life how. “Hmm ... the school environment is good and people look friendly,” Evelina replied.

Hearing Evelina’s answer, the father looks calm. But at the time, Evelina was continuing to say what she was saying.

“Oh yes! In my class it seems like a lot of people from famous families ...,” she continued.

The father looked agitated and asked hesitantly, “Are they a girl?”

“Of course, not. Because my school is a public high school and in my class, there is a famous model if I’m not mistaken ... Lucas Aland?” explained Evelina in wonder.

The father heard his daughter’s words shocked until the newspaper he read fell.

“Honey! Our daughter is a friend with a man!” he said looking at his wife.

“Isn’t that natural? Our daughter is a teenager,” his wife replied.

Her father wants to advise his daughter, but when he wants to talk to Evelina. She’s not in the dining room anymore, that Evelina has been in her room ever since.

“Sigh ... that girl,” squealed her father.

Evelina, who was already in her room, was sighing. Because she knew for sure her father’s nagging must be long enough for men. She sat in her chair that she wanted to read a book, but she didn’t have time to read since earlier. She opens a page on the novel “You’re My Butterfly“ feeling familiar when looking and holding it.

“I think ... I’ve read this book somewhere, but I don’t really remember,” she thought.

After reading the book for hours and a half from “You’re My Butterfly”, she saw her wall clock showing that it was almost late at night. She went to bed, and the girl turned off the lights. By then, Evelina had laid herself on her bed and she was thinking about something.

“The butterfly makes the life of the person closest to her become more colorful, but one day, she vanishes in the life of someone else,” she explained.

“It’s sad. It must be the people closest to her who feel sad. When someone of value suddenly disappears, it hurts a lot. Never give it up! I’d better just sleep.”

Then, the girl began to close her eyes after thinking a lot about the novel read by her earlier. The girl ended up asleep and dissolved in her sleep.

At that time, Evelina was in the trees like a park. She saw boys and girls joking around. Suddenly, the little boy disappeared and the sky was so dark and it rained. Then, Evelina sees a man in a junior high school uniform, the man standing in the pouring rain. He touched the tree crying and he said, “I miss you, where are you?”

At that moment, Evelina walks slowly that she approaches the man, and holds his shoulder. The man turned to her and said to Evelina with a thin smile.

“I miss you, Eve ...,”

Evelina is shocked to see the man find out her name and she wakes up. She realized that what she saw was just a dream and said, “Who is that man?”

TO BE CONTINUED...